RC PVC bot

This hunk of PVC pipe is radio controlled. The wheels on the ends provide the locomotion, but it wouldn’t be going anywhere if it weren’t for that little tail strapped to the center of the tube.

When the motors are turning the body of the bot needs something to push against. In this case the tail hits the ground and keeps the chassis from spinning. We have seen attempts to go without a tail by using lopsided wheels to provide angular momentum, but this method is much more reliable.

The control for the bot is scrapped from a toy RC car. Once hooked up to the gearhead motors it’s ready to roll. The real difficulty of the build came in fitting everything into the pipe. A frame was built from a few disks used as mounting platforms which were separated by threaded rod. See it making its way around a gravel road in the clip after the break.

On a completely different note, I have seen a similar vehicle being considered(?) by the US military. It had a camera and a tail so the military personnel could toss it and then remotely control it without having to worry if it landed “right side up”.

I think a little swivel wheel on each end of the tail would make it less likely to tear things up, and reduce wear on the tail as well. A gravel road don’t matter much, but I wouldn’t want to use that on my hardwood floors or vinyl. :p

I immediately thought of the same thing! I used to make these as a child too, with a slice from a candle put between the spool and matchstick as the ‘lubricant’. I’m less than half your mother’s age, but the knowledge was handed down from my parents and probably from their parents before. Perhaps I should show my children, but wooden cotton spools, even candles and matches, are not such common place household items now. Time for a modern twist? Toilet roll tube, DVD’s and a pencil perhaps?

I think you could ditch the tail if you used continuous rotation rc servos. It becomes a matter of telling the mcu to stop moving the left side while turning the right side. You would have to time it so it alternates the breaking action on the left and right sides but it should be doable.